A Winter of Side Quests

Welcome to Documented, a space where I share my life, travels, and everything in between. Thanks for being here.

In this post, I’m sharing my winter side quests—a hodgepodge of small activities and fun projects that kept me sane through the season. Read on if you’d like to follow along!

Over the holidays, I was overwhelmed at how much I needed to finish to wrap up work for the year. It didn’t help that I was traveling every two weeks (internationally!) and in between those moments, I found myself questioning my decisions and finding something to keep me sane throughout that period. It was the start of winter, after all.

By the end of Q4, the busyness left me feeling stuck and demotivated. I am not someone who commits well to big or daily projects, so I decided to try something smaller: a weekly side quest.

In gaming terms, a side quest is an optional, self-contained mission outside the main objective. I’m not a gamer, but I love the idea of having a mission beyond my usual to-dos. Being an adult has made me increasingly serious and disciplined, but as an artist, that rigidity felt suffocating.

So I gave myself side quests—I write a list on my work planner1 and try my best to tick them off every week. It could be as easily integrated to my routine, such as scheduling a movie night or experimenting with a new dish, or more challenging such as building furniture or working on a creative project I’ve always wanted to try. The main goal was to disconnect from work obligations and find fulfillment in life outside work.

Unlike bucket lists or daily practices, this approach works for me. Turns out, I thrive on one-off projects with a clear beginning and end.

It’s no surprise that my apartment is 80% paper (in all forms)—notebooks, packaging, letters from friends, and of course, ephemera. The Altpapier2 bin hates to see me coming.

Apart from travel journaling, most of my ephemera gets either archived or disposed, depending on the design (and if it’s worth keeping). Unfortunately, most of them end up in a box that never sees the light of day—and I was on a mission to change that.

I’ve been seeing these collages all over Pinterest—memorabilia and photos pasted together into one big frame, as a key piece to display. I wanted to do my own spin on it, as an avid ephemera collector and analog photography lover.

I put together slides I thrifted from a junk shop, eki stamp cutouts, postcards from an exhibition I enjoyed, boarding passes, negatives, and everything I could find. Some had a cohesive theme (Japan!) while others had a looser theme (favorite trips). It was fun to experiment with the frame sizes and layout placements. I may have spent way longer than expected with this side quest, but so happy with how they turned out.

I honestly thought it would be easy, but I kept redoing this for an entire week—while watching romcoms, no complaints there—and getting messy on my bedroom floor. My designer brain had to make sure the layout made sense; after all, it was something I would see every day in my space.

If you’d like me to show you more of this process, let me know! I’m happy to share a process post of sorts.

To build on my collaging side quest, I finally framed some meaningful photos to put on display.

It’s my first time living in an apartment completely on my own, and I truly believe that your space is an extension of who you are, something I have always resonated with through the six (yes, six) times I have moved homes. Where I am living now feels more long-term, and I wanted to honor that.

It’s one thing to decide what goes into a frame, and there’s another when it comes to frame size and finish. Don’t get me started on which frame goes to which room, and which part of the room! That’s for future me.

As for storytelling goes, I wanted to play up the idea of my creative journey, but in small fragments. I love having visual and tangible accounts of my life and work—I’ve made a portfolio using a MUJI binder as my summer side quest.

The tiny frames both contain film photos: one from California with a typewritten “grow through life” (I miss my typewriter, Peggy. She’s back in Manila), and another, a mirror photo of me during my post-breakup, post-injury solo trip to Italy in 2023. I was at the lowest point of my life, and that trip ignited a new beginning.

On my way out of the art store, I spotted a roll of the Penmanship print from Cavallini Papers & Co. I stood there for a good minute before taking it with me. Penmanship has been a pivotal part of my life. I grew up winning penmanship contests in school, pursued hand lettering as a career, and took pride in having good handwriting, which I can attest came from my mom’s genetics.

I tried hanging it for scale, and the pop of green makes me feel like I’m in a classroom, which ties in so much with my goal to teach and share. I’ve always wanted to be a teacher growing up, and I’m so incredibly grateful I get to do that as part of my job.

With the 2016 trend making a comeback, I revisited one of my earliest interviews with Rookie Magazine (also one of my favorites!) and decided to frame the advice artwork I made. I also went through my pile of papers (see above), segregated it per type, and found some gems I wanted to frame up, such as a London transportation history greeting card and a Moomin print that needed to be shown off.

Everything’s in this crate for now, but I’m glad I finally worked on this (I’m going to be honest, it has been on my to-do since November).

While the first two side quests took multiple days to finish (my indecisive Libra moon definitely takes responsibility for it), this one was a fun, post-work side quest I did.

As you all know (or may not know), I’ve recently developed a huge crush on Joe Keery, first through his music and then via Stranger Things. And then there are the boys from Heated Rivalry, who are simply adorable. I realize I sound like a teenager in a 33-year-old’s body, but I wanted to print photos of them and put them up in my space. I remember thinking, this must be what K-pop girlies feel with their biases?!

Crushes aside, I did feel a lack of space when putting up prints in my office, since my previous space had more consistent lighting. I wanted to put up some of my favorite prints, including a Berlin postcard I designed, among other things.

This small addition to my workspace makes me more excited to turn on my laptop and lock in. A little really does go a long way.

On the topic of obsessions, I am a person who likes them. A lot. I love being obsessed.

I’ve been told by friends that I tend to talk about something for an indefinite amount of time (folks know how much I love Cars3, or the Impressionist movement, or the history of Greetings From postcards). This is a fact I am unashamed to admit—I think, in hindsight, it’s tied to my curiosity and genuine enthusiasm for things (mostly pop culture).

I wanted to document that as a time capsule, and didn’t want to spend so much time doing so, so I resorted on finally using this A7 MD notebook I picked up from stationery shopping in Tokyo.

I found that there’s less pressure to write (I used to have a media journal and it was exhausting to update regularly) and more excuses to gush about my obsessions…aka Heated Rivalry and Stranger Things at the moment.

My main rules for this log were:

• printed photos only when necessary (yes, Hollanov was necessary, duh)

• not going past 4 pages per topic

• as less stationery as possible (limited space!)

• option to add Dymo embossed labels for captions (love the analog feel!)

• all black ink4 to keep it uniform and neat

I also added pages about food I’ve made, music I listened to, and my watchlist. It’s a fun archive, and as I wrapped January’s pages, I’ve been enjoying looking back at what kept me excited last month.

No one tells you how joyful it is to make food in a kitchen that is truly yours. I moved into an apartment with an empty, narrow kitchen and had it built through IKEA, which made cooking feel possible and inviting for the first time.

I grew up wanting to be a teacher, but I always tell myself that if I hadn’t pursued a creative career, I would definitely have worked in food. I love food. I’m not the best home cook, but I think I’m pretty decent. I’ve gotten compliments on my cooking and, more recently, my baking, so my friends can vouch for me on that.

Whenever I’m stressed at work, I find myself cooped up in the kitchen, chopping vegetables or preparing side dishes. Mealtimes are special to me, and it’s one thing I look forward to every day.

Recently, I’ve made an effort to put my favorite meals on rotation, with Gochujang Salmon as one of my staples and a new favorite, also inspired by Heated Rivalry: Ilya Rozanov’s Tuna Melt. I make an Asian version, so there’s a little bit of Shane Hollander in it too. I use Kewpie mayo.

I’m Asian, after all, so everything tends to have a touch of Asian flavor. I started baking again as an adult through Eric Kim’s famous Gochujang Caramel Cookies. My friend Aya and I once had a fun evening baking and packing mail at my place, complete with a Notting Hill watch, and I’ve been baking these cookies ever since. The delight people get when the spicy-sweet gochujang filling hits their taste buds is priceless.

Of course, I’ve branched out beyond just one recipe. I’ve tried Eric’s other bakes (I am a huge fan, to say the least), including his Matcha Latte Cookies, Lemon-Turmeric Crinkle Cookies, and M&M Cookies. He makes baking feel so accessible that I’ve never looked back.

I don’t aspire to bake more advanced recipes. These sessions are my evening wind-down ritual, and the best part is getting to share the results with friends at our next hangout.

Last but not least, I’m always organizing my home office. It’s also my first time having a dedicated room for work, so I’m on a mission to make it as inspiring and conducive as possible.

Apart from the week I spent rearranging half the furniture in my apartment (I’m crazy, but present me is happy about it either way), I was dead set on putting together an organizational system that would make the space feel more orderly and intentional.

It would be easy to treat this as a regular to-do, but as I mentioned earlier, I love projects. This one felt like the final boss of them all.

I did a couple of IKEA runs over the winter to pick up some new additions to my desk—I love having this pegboard to put up some quick access supplies, and of course, pasting my vision board there. I decided not to frame it up because it’s literally my phone wallpaper and on the first page of every planner and journal I own.

Apart from that, I went ham over sorting my supplies the weekend before my brother arrived, since I needed to clear up space to put up his airbed in the same room.

I am an “out of sight, out of mind” person, so it was important to me that closed storage5 wouldn’t stand in my way. After all, I need to know where everything is, and I ultimately found a solution that works: labels. Sure, I could print them out and be fancy, but I thought, wait…I have to use my handwriting for something, right? I also realized that reading my own handwriting makes it easier for me to remember where things are (if that makes sense).

This took two half days to figure out, complete with Paramore Radio on repeat to get me going. It’s definitely still a work in progress, so I’ll keep you all updated on that. As a temporary solution, I’m quite satisfied with how it turned out.

Join me for a week in Berlin as I share more about these side quests and document my life!

Cheesy as it is, I’ve learned to appreciate the importance of side quests and sprinkling little bits of fun into my days, and you best believe I’ll keep them in my weekly plans for years to come.

If you’re feeling meh and wanting to add some fun to your life, I highly recommend going on side quests you like, enjoy, and can manage with your time and energy. You’ll be happy you made space for them, as much as I did.

Have you ever tried going on a side quest before? What’s an activity you’ve always wanted to try?

💛 Abbey

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